Hands Free
by Lady Arreya
Summary: Tom gets a new car. P&T&K, P/T.


Title: Hands Free  
Summary: Tom gets a new car. P&T&K, P/T.  
Rating: T

A/N: Inspired by this tweet from Garrett Wang:  
twitter –dot– com/GarrettRWang/status/1163140572225445888

Because Robbie said "We." And because someone commented that Tom would never drive a car with autopilot!

* * *

Harry tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Tom and B'Elanna to pick him up. They were late. Again.

Just as he was about to call them on the com – again – a car he'd never seen before rolled to a stop right in front of him.

Harry blinked in surprise. He'd been expecting the blue '57 Chevy convertible. But this car was deep red, and its lines were even sleeker than the '69 Camaro.

"Harry!" B'Elanna called out through the open window, waving vigorously. He made his way over to her side.

"Where's the Chevy?" he asked.

"In the shop," Tom said flippantly.

"Oh. I was looking forward to driving around with the top down," Harry said, disappointed. "It's so nice out today."

He didn't hear all of B'Elanna's muttered response, but he could have sworn it ended with, "…and only if the privacy lock's engaged."

"Is this a new car?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's called a Tesla," Tom said with pride.

"When did you have time to program another car from the 20th century?"

"Actually, this one's from the early 21st century. And B'Elanna helped."

"Great, isn't it?" B'Elanna enthused. "Fast, maneuverable… and such a smooth ride," she added coyly.

"It was a pretty smooth ride, wasn't it?" Tom said, looking inordinately pleased with himself.

"The smoothest," she agreed with a sly smile.

Harry scratched his head. "Since when did you become such a car buff, B'Elanna?" he asked. "Tom must be rubbing off on you."

"In more ways than one," she quipped mischievously.

"You gotta see this, Harry. This car is incredible."

Harry looked it over, then peered through the window at the dashboard. It looked like an ordinary car to him.

"What's so incredible about it?"

"Well, first of all, it's electric," Tom told him. "No internal combustion engine, so zero emissions."

"Not quite. There are always some emissions," B'Elanna interjected, giving Tom a meaningful look.

At that, they both burst into laughter.

Harry shook his head, thoroughly perplexed. He had no idea what they were talking about or why they found it so funny. Sometimes it felt like they were speaking their own private language. He tried not to feel too left out.

"It's also got autonomous self-driving capability," Tom continued after they'd stopped laughing. "It can even park itself."

"What? But why bother to program a self-driving car, after all the trouble you went to learning to drive stick?"

Tom smirked. "B'Elanna's better at that than I am these days."

"I've had a lot of practice," she said with a wicked grin. "Not to mention a really great teacher."

"Thanks," Tom said modestly. "Anyway, this is much easier than driving an automatic, even. Autopilot works like a charm."

Harry stared at him in astonishment. "You put it on autopilot just now? You?"

"Autopilot's useful," Tom smugly informed him. "It frees up your hands."

"What did you need your hands for?" Harry asked, baffled.

B'Elanna snickered. "All kinds of things."

"Never mind. I don't really want to know. What took you so long, anyway? I've been waiting for over twenty minutes," he complained. "And you were already on the holodeck for an hour before that."

Tom and B'Elanna exchanged sheepish glances. "Sorry, Harry. We just lost track of the time."

"You always lose track of the time when you're together," Harry groused.

He opened the door to the backseat – and froze.

_That's not the smell of new upholstery..._

It was only then that he noticed just how flushed and disheveled Tom and B'Elanna both looked.

And neither of them had their seat belts on, either…

Suddenly, it all clicked into place.

Harry quickly slammed the door shut, belatedly realizing that the "smooth ride" B'Elanna had been referring to had nothing to do with the car.

"On second thought, I think I'll walk," he called out, backing up in a hurry.

Tom and B'Elanna stared after him in astonishment.

"You two just can't keep your hands off each other, can you," Harry mumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged down the street.

"Not even for twenty minutes."

The End!


End file.
